Hello,
I am glad to find that there is a Macadonia forum! My wife is a citizen of Macedonia because her parents are both from there. We both are learning Macedonian right now. My question is, can we find entry-level type work there? We would like to live there for a year so I could get my citizenship also. I would like to learn more about this country, the culture there seems really great. I am pretty much asking if we can survive if we knew the language semi fluent.. I am working on my linguistics degree right now and I am fluent in French.

Yes, Macedonian and Bulgarian are pretty close, but I wouldn't go so far as saying that they are the same languages, unless you think Danish, Norwegian and Swedish are the same. I know that some Bulgarians will deny that!

Anyway, considering the fact that Mistaels's wife is from Macedonia, I also think that they would have sentimental preferences towards Macedonia rather than Bulgaria. If that is not the case, I agree with Scot that Bulgaria would be the better choice, simply because:

1) It's in the EU;
2) It's a larger market and Sofia is a booming city;
3) It's politically more stable.

However, if you still want to come here (I know you posted this a lot of time ago), it depends of what you plan on doing. If you have an MA in linguistics maybe you could land a job as a lecturer at the Ss Cyril and Methodius or some other university. If you don't, I don't think you'll have a difficult time in finding a job in a private language school or a public school teaching English. Beware though, a public school pays little more than 200 eu, and a private school may pay twice that (only in Skopje), if they don't scam you first.

One thing you should all keep in mind - Skopje is NOT CHEAP. Actually, it's very expensive.

1. Renting a studio apartment would cost you at least 100 eu without the bills. A 2-bedroom apartment is at least 200 eu without the bills and probably more because you are foreigners (they are charging us students that much).

2. Electricity can cost from 30-40 eu in the summer to 70-80 in winter. If it's a large apartment, it can cost even more.

3. Water is cheap, about 10 eu depending on how much you spend(but it was increased a 100% only this year).

4. High speed internet connection is from 20 to 25 eu.

5. Cell phones from 10 eu to infinity depending on how much you like to chat. In Macedonia people don't chat through their cell phones, apart from the businessmen. A typical conversation (at least for me) goes something like this - "Hey, what's up? Nothing, I'm studying. Wanna go out? Sure, when? One hour from now, meet you at..." All that in less than 10 sec.

6. Public transportation is dirty and smelly and more expensive than in Sofia, taxis are not expensive compared with other countries, but every year they get more and more expensive(an increase of a 100% in the 4 years I have lived here, even though the starting price is still the same).

7. Going out is not that expensive if you drink a couple of beers, but if you are a party animal, you could spend half your salary in one night.

My point is, to live very frugally in Skopje you need at least 200 eu per person. To live reasonably good, you need 300+ eu per person. To live like kings, you need 500+ eu per person - and that's highly unlikely with teaching jobs.

On the other hand, you can live like kings with 300+ per person in a smaller town like Shtip, for example (that is compared to the locals).